I've searched in the house-show results to see if I could give you a good answer to your problem, but I haven't found a plausible one. He was already fighting Randy Savage by the time Survivor Series was broadcast, so I don't really know if the seeds were already there. Before that he was helping Legion of Doom against Demolition.

But you made me remember how good Warrior vs. Rude actually was. Still a big fan of their Steel Cage Match. Darn you, pal!

You ask a good question. Spoderman got the context right. Warrior was thrown in with LOD to wrestle Demolition on house shows right after Summerslam and that carried on into October before Warrior and Savage got put together. Savage challenging Warrior didn't become a thing on TV until, perhaps, Survivor Series itself with Savage doing an interview. My best guess is they were hoping Warrior's house-show run helping LOD still had some ability to generate interest, despite them booking Demolition pretty weak already. I don't know what they were thinking after Wrestlemania 6. It was probably too soon to go with Rude, but that was not too bad. Rude and Warrior were facing each other on house shows right after Wrestlemania all the way through Summerslam, with the last month or so being in tags. The only other thing I can say about how it turned out that way is that Earthquake was the only heel built up enough to feud with Warrior, but someone decided the put Earthquake and Hogan together. No other heels were built up enough at that point.

Should have had Ravishing Rick beat Warrior to extend the feud. Rude could have had a test/transitional run and Warrior could have won it back. Rude probably left the company because Vince wouldn't put the belt on him.

The wheels were definitely in motion for a Warrior vs. Savage feud. As mentioned above Savage did have an interview at Survivor Series where he was basically challenging Warrior. Then on Saturday Night's Main Event which I think was just two days after Survivor Series (so probably taped a couple weeks before) Savage attacked Warrior during a title match against Ted Dibiase. They could have very easily put Savage on The Perfect Team instead of Ax, especially since Ax would never be seen in WWF after Survivor Series anyway. Personally I think they should have done Warrior vs. Savage at SummerSlam 90 and had that stretch into Survivor Series but that's another story. Either way it was curious that Savage was left out of action at Survivor Series when there was a pretty obvious spot for him.

I wouldn't say he was a "throw in". Warrior was featured prominently on the pay-per-view. He was sole survivor of his team and the overall survivor along with Hulk plus he had an interview with Sherri Martel (where he famously turned her down). So the Warrior v. Savage feud was well under way by the time Series '90 rolled around.

The reason why Savage was left off the team was because they didn't want to make Savage look weak. If Vince has Warrior pin Savage at Series '90 the feud and angle is blown to hell especially because it's a retirement match and lure of the feud is we don't know who is going to win. If Warrior beats Savage from pillar to post it destroys the whole angle.

The Ultimate Warriors vs. the Perfect Team is my second favorite traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match of all time. Even though the Ultimate Warrior wasn't exactly in a fued with anyone on the Perfect Team, I think he fit right in there nicely as the captain. If Ultimate Warrior wasn't on that team, who would you have inserted in there to replace him, and what would you have the WWF Champion do that night?? Whatever the case maybe, this will always look cool to me!!

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I have wondered for years about Randy Savage from Wrestlemania VI to Wrestlemania VII. I don't remember how much wrestling he did on TV, but he basically took the pay per view year off. He fought Dusty Rhodes at Sumerslam and the match didn't last five minutes. He didn't compete and the Survivor Series or Royal Rumble. I've never understood this. I can't find anywhere that he was injured.

I have wondered for years about Randy Savage from Wrestlemania VI to Wrestlemania VII. I don't remember how much wrestling he did on TV, but he basically took the pay per view year off. He fought Dusty Rhodes at Sumerslam and the match didn't last five minutes. He didn't compete and the Survivor Series or Royal Rumble. I've never understood this. I can't find anywhere that he was injured.

I did hear that he was injured, I can't remember where but I heard it pretty recently. I think it may have been Lanny Poffo who said it.